Posts Tagged ‘JD Drew’
Last night it was Youk's turn to get beat about the head. WTG, Youk! (Photo courtesy of Kelly O'Connor/sittingstill.net and used with permission)
Happiness, these days, is two wins in a row. Their being walk-offs is a nice touch that helps stir up all the warm and fuzzy feelings we’ve come to associate with this team.
Here’s the thing, though…I vote for no walk-off tonight. I vote for an old-fashioned beat down of the Rangers so intense that we know in the second inning that when we leave Fenway we’ll be hearing “Dirty Water”. Is that too much to ask?
I don’t want Clay Buchholz to struggle, I want him to dominate. I still want the bullpen to perform scorelessly…but maybe we only need to use them an inning or two, eh?
Darnell McDonald hitting another home run? Okay, I’m good with that. (Damn, what kind of week is this guy having, huh? HE’S going to be expecting a walk-off win EVERY night!) I could stand a few more JD Drew grand slams while we’re at it.
I’m conflicted watching this whole Papi/Lowell thing going down. (Condensed version: Lowell pinched-hit for Papi on Monday, started as DH last night and will be the DH again tonight.) On one hand, watching Papi go through this is rough and I would never have wished it upon him. On the other hand, tough decisions had to be made and the fact that Tito made them should prove to some folks that he, indeed, DOES know what he’s doing and has better talents at handling these sorts of things than any of us do. Tito isn’t going to react to things going on with the team based on the media hounding him or the fans booing. Some day folks will get that the guy has his job because he knows what he’s doing.
The live chat last night was a lot of fun – thanks so much to everyone who dropped by. As it stands, the next one is scheduled for next Tuesday when the Sox are in Toronto – so mark your calendars!
I’m at Fenway tonight to see CJ Wilson try to best Clay. It’s slow going but things are already giving for the Sox. No reason to believe they won’t keep going that way.
If JD Drew can smile...so can you! (Photo courtesy of Kelly O'Connor/sittingstill.net and used with permission)
Well it was nice to miss all the suck yesterday. Due to obligations unrelated to baseball I watched a total of about an inning and a half last night.
But I refuse to dwell on the negative. It’s been a shitty April so far and there’s no denying it. We just have to be grateful that the Orioles only have one win this month so the Sox aren’t sitting in the basement. Still, if I let a bad month of baseball ruin my Red Sox-loving attitude, what would the point be? Anything can happen in a season and while I would like to see a more cohesive unit out there I certainly am not even close to giving up on this team. That isn’t to say that the way they’ve been playing and the outcomes of these games haven’t been utterly frustrating. They have. But if I gave up on my team in April I would have missed out on a lot of good games. Besides, what kind of fan only pays attention to or roots for their team when they’re winning?
Today is another day and the Sox get another chance to start that winning streak.
Photo of JD taken by Kelly O'Connor/sittingstill.net and used with permission
This morning, my favorite Boston sports media person to follow on Twitter, Dan Roche, broke the news that JD Drew casually dropped that some time around Thanksgiving, he had surgery on his left shoulder to remove bone spurs. According to JD:
“Just a little shoulder surgery that I had cleaning up some bone spurs on my AC joint that was giving me fits throughout the year last year. We really didn’t know what was going on. We didn’t take any pictures or did anything during the season. It only got worse as the off-season went along. Came in around Thanksgiving had that done, feel great now.”
Rochie goes on to write that they opted for surgery over a scope because the recovery time is shorter. Which means, ultimately, that JD Drew showed up at camp in hopefully better shape and fully ready to go for the new season. This, of course, won’t prevent the stories popping up in the blogosphere about how awful JD Drew is nor will it mean and end to the “Drew isn’t worth his contract” pieces that crop up every season. To me what it means is that Drew conducts his life the same whether it’s during the season or not, which is to say he’s private and quiet and jut does what needs to be done and tries to do so without drawing much attention to himself.
A healthy, spur-less, JD coming into Spring Training makes me very, very happy.
(Edited to add a shout out to reader “Marcus” who correctly points out that JD’s surgery was “news” back in November, courtesy of – who else? – Rob Bradford.)
An unrelated note: Over at MLB.com, Kyle Snyder is listed as a non-roster invitee – but not for a specific team. I worry that 2009 might have been the last time we got to see Kyle play professional ball but I hope that there is still a team for him given that Spring Training only just started. Positive vibes being sent Kyle’s way. Here’s hoping for good news soon.
And a brief mention because I’d be remiss if I let the day pass without writing this: Happy birthday to both Mike Lowell and Bronson Arroyo! Aside from their birthdays they don’t have much in common except each has a World Series ring from the Red Sox but they’re certainly two huge fan favorites. Good things for both of them in 2010 is my hope. For Mike, I hope that includes still being in a Red Sox uniform come April 4th!
We lost Greg Montalbano in 2009. Kelly O'Connor took this photo of him at the Lowell Spinner's Alumni Dinner in January 2009 (Used with permission)
Just a note of warning: This entry is long and although I want it to be all-encompassing, I’m sure I’ve missed few things. But this is pretty much how I remember 2009!
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2009 was a fairly eventful year for me personally in both the good and bad categories. Sadly more bad than good which is probably why I initially avoided writing any kind of recap for the blog. But while I was writing my recap of the Red Sox decade (and I’ll have that up as soon as I finish it!) I realized I should probably write something about the final year of the decade as well. So here goes.
January: I started blogging at WEEI.com. Looking back on my entries for this month, I’m genuinely surprised I found so much to write about (it didn’t stop new readers from complaining that I was writing “drivel” though. Should have been a sign!). Personal highlights in January: The ongoing Jason Varitek saga, the signing of Rocco Baldelli, Kyle Snyder getting picked up by the Mets, the beginning of the MLB Network and Jim Rice finally gets voted into the Hall of Fame!
February: Bombshell of bombshells for MLB. Selena Roberts exposes Alex Rodriguez as a steroid user. The MLB Network cuts its teeth on this one and, unlike Peter Gammons and ESPN, doesn’t disappoint with their coverage. Unafraid of losing access to the players (again, unlike Peter Gammons or ESPN), they go full throttle on this story and introduce us to their newest addition to the network: Bob Costas. I wrote a lot about MLBN in 2009 and a bit about Sl*ppy. I would have written much less about the two, most likely, had this story not broken. Personal highlights in February: The Caribbean World Series on MLBN (I was genuinely surprised at how much I enjoyed it!), Truck Day, pitchers and catchers reporting and Joe Torre’s book about the Yankees.
Chapter 10: The End of the Curse. When asked by Regis Philbin the other day what happened to the Yankees over the past 7 years, Joe responded “The Red Sox happened”. That will go down as possibly my favorite Red Sox/Yankee-related quote ever.
March: I spent a lot of March writing ‘rants’ and pointing folks toward baseball-related Twitter accounts. Must have been resting up for April! Personal highlight in March: The WBC. I spent a lot of time ranting about players getting hurt and how I didn’t care who won only to be totally sucked into it by the end.
April: The beginning of the season! Lots of liveblogging and picking up more WEEI readers (with mixed results!). Personal highlights in April: Going to both Sox/Mets exhibition games at CitiField, attending Opening Day at Fenway and high-fiving JD Drew and Hideki Okajima during their introductions, being at Fenway for the walk-off win against the Yankees, Jacoby Ellsbury stealing home on Andy Pettitte, Tim Wakefield taking a no-hitter into the 8th inning (thus setting the table for his All Star selection), watching Jonathan Van Every pitch while Javier Lopez floundered in right field then eventually getting DFA’d (watched on television, not in person), the Patriots Day game where Luke Scott got all pissy and some idiot fan threw a ball onto the field and “Toeing the Rubber” getting nominated for a New England Sports Blog Award in the category “Best Red Sox Blog”. Relatively speaking, a great month except for one thing that really hit the baseball world hard and made the month miserable: the death of Nick Adenhart.
But I don’t cry because of any personal connection I have to Nick. I don’t cry because a future baseball star is dead. I cry because parents lost a son today. Many people lost a friend. And the world lost someone who could have potentially been great. Not just at baseball but at life. No drunken ass has the right to take that away from us. This doesn’t “put things into perspective” for me. I hate when people say that. I’m forty years old for God’s sake, I’ve seen enough death and tragedy in my life to have proper perspective, thank you. I don’t watch baseball and think that what goes on down on that field is life or death and more important than anything else in my life. I’d argue that most sports fans, even if they act like they have no perspective, have exactly that. Baseball is an outlet to forget about the realities of life for a few hours.
May: Getting to see Daniel Bard’s first Major League appearance (after having seen him pitch in Pawtucket) was very special. Finding out that Jerry Remy was recovering from cancer was sad and a little frightening. Personal highlights in May: Seeing Kyle Snyder with the Bisons at Pawtucket, Javier Lopez signing Steve the Ferret’s “Lopez” jersey (also at Pawtucket), Aubrey Huff fistpumping to Joba Chamberlain, appearing on “The Baseball Show” on Comcast SportsNet, crying (literally crying) over Big Papi’s first home run of the season, getting to meet metsgrrl and “paloozaing” with a huge group of people I love during the Mets/Sox series at Fenway.
Yesterday was an amazing day spent with friends (most of whom I haven’t seen in quite a while or hadn’t met yet!). There are many amazing tales to tell (but not here!) – my favorite being when our friend Susan noted that we could start singing “O Canada” except no one knows the words past “O Canada!”. Standing up and singing loudly and proudly, a group of us proved her wrong. That our serenade didn’t get us thrown out still kind of surprises me.
June: This month brought us the end of interleague play, the end of Jonathan Van Every’s season (thanks to knee surgery), Tim Wakefield hitting ten victories with his torn labrum, John Smoltz making us all wonder why we were so excited to have him on the team while Dusty Brown makes his major league debut. Personal highlights for June: Derek Lowe returning to Fenway with the Braves, Nick Green’s walkoff against those same Braves, sitting in Fenway during a mind-numbing rain delayed game that turned into a loss for the Sox (okay, that one is a lowlight, really) and the Sox capping off 7 wins in a row against the Yankees with an eighth.
Things not related to the ALCS that are pissing me off this week:
* Steve Phillips is addicted to sex. Stunned. I’m stunned, I tell you. To think, instead of facing up to the fact that his ego is such that he enjoys cheating on his wife with subordinates, he announces to the world that he’s a sex addict, goes into “rehab” for it and will most likely come out to the welcoming arms of a job. Nice work if you can get it, huh?
* Bill Madden is a rumor-mongering ass and no one except Matt O’Donnell at Fenway West, has called him on it. According to Madden, the Red Sox “have apparently decided not to try to re-sign Jason Bay”. Does he offer any proof of this? Any quotes? Any facts at all? No. What he does offer is his belief that Jason Bay’s rep “Scott (Avenging Agent) Boras” had a bad relationship with the Red Sox. That’s his proof the Sox aren’t going to re-sign Bay. The worst of it being, surprise surprise Bill, Jason Bay’s agent is Joe Urbon. Whoops. Madden wrote this piece on Saturday and it’s been up ever since with no corrections. The New York Daily News, your leader in spreading misinformation. The kicker is that so many blogs have picked up on Madden’s piece and are quoting it as fact. It annoys me to no end that professionals can just throw out rumors, stating them as fact, and not have to be responsible to anyone to report the actual truth. I have no bloody idea if Theo plans to make Bay an offer that will woo him into staying in Boston – neither does Bill Madden.
* Tony LaRussa gives Mark McGwire a job. Yeah, yeah. McGwire never admitted to anything (he wasn’t there to talk about the past, dammit) and he didn’t get “caught” or “outed” (unless you count Jose Canseco)…but the fact remains that when most people think of Mark McGwire, they think of steroids. What better way to show folks that MLB is serious about cleaning up the sport than bringing Mark McGwire in to be the Cardinals hitting coach? How long into the season (or maybe just into spring training) will we finally get Mark in front of a microphone admitting to all he has been accused of, begging forgiveness and thanking LaRussa for his chance to get back into baseball?
* JD Drew. Folks, he isn’t a murderer. He hasn’t been outed for cheating on his wife or using PEDs. I’ve never heard one fan ever claim he blew off an autograph request. And, believe it or not, he’s a pretty solid player. Yes, he has a huge contract that was totally overblown and never probably should have seen the light of day – but it did. YEARS ago. Build yourselves bridges and get the hell over it, people. JD Drew isn’t the devil. You just want to paint him that way so you can entertain yourself in the off-season.
Four? I only came up with four?
I think that’s because in the back of my brain I keep looking ahead on the calender to tomorrow. AKA: The 5th Anniversary of the night our lives TRULY changed forever. More on that next!
Welcome to Boston, Billy. Just don't piss me off. (Photo taken by me on Sunday)
Contrary to what some might think, I love it when I’m wrong. At least when I’m totally negative about something and I turn out to be shown up. Messrs Byrd and Wagner both did that on Sunday. Sure, one game is a small sample size but, for now, I’ll take it. I’m not ready to pin playoff hopes on either Byrd nor Wagner but in a game where there was relatively little pressure but still a genuine desire to win the game they both stepped up and did extremely well.
Paul Byrd out-pitching Roy Halladay was all kinds of amazing, wasn’t it?
It was a fun game to watch in person and was interesting to see how passionate Paul Byrd was during it. When he got out of the bases loaded jam I thought he might have had a stroke because I saw him hit the ground. I’m guessing it was his gesture of thanks to whichever entity (be it God or JD Drew) he felt deserved it. A sweep, even one of the Blue Jays, is always welcome around these parts. Rangers and Rays lost, which helped the cause, but those Yankees just keep chugging, huh? No worries. Whether by division or wild card I sense the Red Sox will be hanging around in October.
The Rays finish their series with Detroit today while the Yankees start a series with the Orioles and the Rangers start a series with the Blue Jays. The Sox, they get the day off before their series with the Rays. The next seven games for the Red Sox are on the road. 3 against Tampa Bay and 4 against the White Sox. This could turn out to be a great road trip for the hometown team.
Through a series of interesting circumstances, I’ll find myself at the new Yankee Stadium on September 9th. If you had told me last year around this time that I would be visiting both new parks in New York I would have laughed at you. But it seems the fates had other ideas. It’s a Yankees/Rays game so I’ll have more opportunities to check out the park as I won’t feel obligated to stay glued to my seat (I might have to test the “God Bless America” rules!) as I would if the Red Sox were playing. At the very least, I’m looking forward to being able to compare it to CitiField. I might not like the Yankees but I sure do enjoy going to different ballparks. And the tickets were free so how do you turn down an offer like that? I’ll try to be tweeting and blogging from New York!
Rest up, folks. September 1st is tomorrow so this time it counts! (Or something like that!)
